Roller-spreading device for embroidering-machines.



J. A. GROEBLI.

ROLLER SPREADING DEVICE FOR EMBROIDERING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 6.1913.

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THE NORRIS PETERS 50.. PHOTO-LITHQ, WASHINGTON. D, C.

J. A. GROEBLI.

ROLLER SPREADING DEVICE FOR EMBROIDERING MACHINES. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 6. .1913.

1 ,137,3 1 2. Patented Apr. 27, 1915.

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THE NORRIS PETERS c0. FHOm-LITHQ. WASHING TON. D. C

no STATES PAT JOSEPH A. enonnnr, or new YORK, N. Y.

ROLLER-SPREADING DEVICE FOR EMBROIDERING-MLAGHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent. 1

Patented Apr. 2'7, 1915.

Application filed June 6, 1913. Serial No. 772,026.

To all whom it mag/concern:

' Be it known that I, JOSEPH AuGROEBLI,

a citizenofthe United States, residingat 807 West Fourth street, city, county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Roller- Spreading Devices for Embroldering-Machines, of which the'following is a specification.

My invention 'relates to that class of embroidering machines wherein the fabric to be embroidered is carried by a tambour frame,

. the thread applying needles, so as to prowhich is made .to move perpendicularly and laterally inzthe same plane, to present the fabric successively in different positions to duce the desired pattern upon the fabric. The tambour frame'is provided with holders l and their comparatively small diameter, are

apt to be distorted and to bend or spring under the tension 0 the fabric upon them, so that not only wi the central portion of the uppermost roller sag down, but the central portion of the lower'roller will tend to bend up, and the central portions of the reo fabric will not be held as taut as the outer portions which extend between the more rigid parts ofthe rollers towardtheir ends. The rollers also have a tendency. to vibrate or'bend back and forth under the influence; of the "rapid movements of the tambour frame. And, in order to overcome these tendencies of the rollersto bend and spring out of line, it is necessaryto employ some form of adjustable brace to supplement the strength of the rollers and to hold them posi 7 tively in their proper relations, insuring the uniform tensioning of the fabric and preventing distortion of the material from its properrelation to the rollers.

The tambour frames of some of the embroidering machines of this type are as much as ten yards in width and on thesewidemachines the problem of securing and retaining an accurate alinement of the fabric rollers or holders, so as to assure precision in the presentation of the fabric to the needles, presents a number of difficulties. The supplementary support must-of course be applied against the fabric which is wound about the roller; and if that fabric is of a delicate character the pressure produced" by a longroller against a single support or brace may be so great as to seriously injure the fabric. Hence I have found it advisable to apply the supplementary supportat' a number of points, in order to distribute the load and'to avoid undue pressure upon the fabric'at any particular point. If, however, the braces are applied successively at diflerent points, it is obvious that the initial burden upon those braces first applied will be excessive, and may damage the fabric before the load is distributed by the application of the other braces. And, furthermore,

the successive application of the braces would render it much more difficult to obtain uniformity in their alinement and would invite conditions-requiring readjustment to' secure approximate uniformity of support' Such a method would also be slowin the first application and would involve further waste of time forthe readjustment. Hence it becomes important not only to apply the supplemental supports or braces at a number of points along'the fabriclroller, but also to apply them, simultaneously, so that the pressure upon the fabric maybe divided and distributed and so that the adjustment may be direct, uniform and expeditious. It is to means for securing these various ends and providing for readjusting the spreading mechanism as a whole to the progressively varying sizes of the fabric rolls that my improvements are particularly directed.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a front elevation .of a portion of an embroidering machine illustrating the way in which'the tambour frame is mounted to move perpendicularly and laterally, in the sameplane; F ig.

2 is a back view of the tambour frame showing the fabric rollers and truing mechanism, this figure and Fig. 1 being shortened by the excision "of vertical sections. From Fig. 2 I have omitted those portions of the operative mechanism which are not directly involved in my present improvements; Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 2, 2 of Fig. 2 looking to the left; Fi 4 is an edge view on an enlarged scale, of t e in tor-locking gears 17, 20, illustrating the shifting of the relative positions of the gears; Fig. 5 is a top View of the roller truing gearing taken on theline l, 1 of Fig. 2.

The same reference numerals designate corresponding parts in all the figures.

The tambour frame 3, which is adapted to be moved laterally and vertically in. the

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same plane, carries 'tWo pairs of fabric The bracing or spreading systemshown in; the drawings embodies duplicate structures,

each embracing a pair of relatively movable rods 6, 7, the rod 6 being provided with a bracket arm 8, engaging above the lower roller of each pair, and each rod 7 being provided with a bracket arm 9, engaging below the upper rollen of each pair. The

lower endof the rod 6 slides in a bearing 10 upon the tambour frame and is held against rotation by a pin 11 passing through the bearing into a groove 12 in the rod. And from the rodfi an arm 13 extends, through the end of whichthe "lower end of the rod 7 slides and is held against rotation by a pin 14 in the arm 13 projecting into a slot 15 in the rod 7., a v

The upper endof therod 6 is threaded into a'yoke16 carried bya gear 17 mounted on a. bracket 18 attached to the tambour frame. .And the upper end of the rod 7 is carried'by' a turnbuckle 19 attached to a gear 20 through which isthreaded the end of a shaft 21 mounted in the-bracket 18, the upper end of which shaft carries a worm gear- 22 meshing with the worm 23 ona shaft 24 V which may be operated by means of the handle 33.

The brackets 18 carry a shaft 29 and mitered gears28 meshing with gear wheels 27 onshafts 25, which, through worms 26 turn the gear wheels 17. Thus the duplicate groups of. the apparatus are connected so that they will operate in harmony. A hand crank 30 or other suitable apparatusis provided for rotating the shaft 29.

The operation ofmy device is as follows: While the feed rollers 4, 5fare being turned so as to present a portion ofthe fabric in the desired position and to tighten the fabric, the bracket arms 9 will have been slack-,

ened away from the upper rollers 4, allowing them to sag, slackeningthe medial stress upon the fabric and permitting the lower rollers 5 to sa away from the brackets 8. And when the, fabric has been drawn taut I the rollers will be sprung out of line by the drag of the fabric and the weight of the rollers. If then power is applied through the shaft 24 worms 23 and worm gears 22 to the shafts 21, turning the shafts from left to right and running the threads of the shafts 21 down through the gears 20, those gears'wi'll be raised, carrying 'up with them the fabric rollers 4 until they have been raised as much as is desired, when the power may be shut off. This lifting of the rollers 4 will, through the fabric connecting the rollers 4 and 5, raise the rollers 5, against the brackets 8, and in this way the proper relative positions of the rollers 4 and 5 will be directly and simply established and the turnb-uckles 19 and the rods 7 with their brackets 9, which will engage with and lift maintained, the inter-related character of the bracket supporting mechanism: causing:

thelower brackets to simultaneously resist the upward springing of the lower roller, while the upper brackets all simultaneously and evenly operate to raise and alinethe upper roller, thus spreading the rollers apart and the fabric. I w c,

The reeling of any considerable amount of material from one'roller to the other, however, will cause a material diminution .in-

the size of one roll offabric and an increase in the size of the other; and it IS necessary to make provision for a readjustment, or

justifying of the supplementarysupports to producing a uniform tension in compensate for-this change'in size of the.

fabric rolls. While the relative variation in the size of the rolls is not, of course, strictly uniform, still in practice-,the increase of diameter in one roll substantially compensates for the diminutionindiameter of the other roll, so that if the roller supports are all moved together, reversely to the travel of the fabric, the apparatus may adjust itself as a whole tothe altered size of the roll without its parts being relatively readjusted. This adjustment eitherupward or downward may be accomplished byturning the shaft 25 with itsworm126 so as to rotate. the gear wheel 17 and its yoke 16 and to move the rod 6 with its bracket8 upward;

or downward, as may be desired. The rota tion of the gear wheel 17 will also turn the gear wheel 20 a corresponding distance, causing it to travel up or down upon the shaft 21 in the same direction as the movement of the rod 6. This will result in the gear wheel 20 slipping downward against the gear wheel 17 as shown in solid lines in Fig. 4, or in its slipping upward'as shown by the broken lines inthe same figure The effect, of this will be to cause the brackets 8 a direction and to retain their relative positions toward each other, whether the shaft 25 is turned in one direction'or the other. This enables theaoperator, i a t any timefto quickly adjust the positions of the brackets 8 and 9 so as to compensate for any change in the size of the rollsof fabric on the roll-, ers 4, 5, the connection between the duand 9 to simultaneously move in thesame plicate groups of roller alining apparatus being made through connecting gears 27,

28 and shaft 29, so that there shall be no di-' vergence from the lines of support furnished by the corresponding brackets 8, 8 and 9, 9. The adjustment can be made as above when the support of the brackets has been applied to the rollers or removed through the operathe mechanism which I have shown is in-' tended to be illustrative of a form of apparatus suitable for carrying out my invention, but is not an exclusive form, as the mechanical details of construction may be varied without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Pat ent of the United States is, s

1. In an embroidering machine of the class mentioned, the embodiment of cooperating fabric holders, means for. spreading the same in opposite directions and common means for moving the spreading means collectively in the same direction and relatively to the fabric holders.

2. In an embroidering machine of the class mentioned, the embodiment of cooperating fabric holders, means for spreading the same in opposite directions and common justifying means for moving the spreading means collectively in the same di rection and relatively to the fabric holders.

3. In an embroidering machine of the class mentioned, the embodiment of cooperating fabric holders, means for spreading the same in opposite directions and common and mechanically operated means for moving the spreading means collectively in the same direction and relatively to the fabric holders.

I. In an embroidering machine of the class mentioned, the embodiment of cooperating fabric holders, a plurality of means for spreading the same in opposite directions and common means for moving the spreading means collectively in the same direction and relatively to the fabric holders.

5. In an embroidering machine of the class mentioned, the embodiment of cooperating fabric holders, a plurality of sets of means positioned along the fabric holders for spreading the same in opposite directions and common means for operating all the spreading means in the same direction and relatively to the fabric holders.

6. In an embroidering machine of the class mentioned, the embodiment 'of co6perating fabric holders, a plurality ofinterrelated sets of means positioned along the fabric holders for spreading the same in opposite directions and common means for operating the spreading means in the same direction and relatively to the fabric holders.

7. In an embroidering machine of the class mentioned, the embodiment of cooperating fabric holders, a plurality of sets of means positioned along the fabric holders for spreading the same in opposite directions and common means for operating all the sets of the spreading means simultaneously in the same direction and relatively to the fabric holders.

8. In an embroidering machine of the class gnentioned, the embodiment of cooperating fabric holders, a plurality of sets of means positioned along the fabric holders, for spreading the same in opposite directions, common means for operating the spreading means, and common means for moving the spreading means collectively in the same direction and relatively to the fabric holders.

9. In an embroidering machine of the class mentioned, the embodiment of cooperating fabric holding elements, distortion resisting means cooperating with one of said holding elements, distortion rectifying means cooperating with another of said elements, inter-related justifying factors and common means for operating the distortion resisting and rectifying means simultaneously in the same direction and relatively to the fabric holders.

10. In an embroidering machine of the class mentioned, the embodiment of fabric holding elements, distortion resisting means cooperating with one of said holding ele ments, distortion rectifying means cooperating with another of said elements, and interrelated justifying factors comprising intermeshing gearing.

11. In an embroidering machine of the class mentioned, the embodiment of fabric holding elements, distortion resisting means cooperating with one of said holding elements, distortion rectifying means cooperating with another of said elements, factors for adjusting said distortion resisting and rectifying means simultaneously, and factors for moving said rectifying means independently, and interrelated justifying factors.

12. In an embroidering machine of the class mentioned, the embodiment of fabric holding elements, a plurality of cooperating anti-distortion appliances, factors including turn buckles and screws for moving said appliances, gearing interrelating said turn buckles, and actuating means therefor.

13. In an embroidering machine of the class mentioned, the embodiment of fabric holding elements, cooperating anti-distortion appliances therefor, and factors including turn buckles and screws, interrelated through slidably associated gearing, for moving said appliances.

14. In an embroidering machine of the class mentioned, the embodiment of cooperating fabric holding elements, cooperating anti-distortion appliances therefor, common means for adjusting said appliances simultaneously in the same direction and means for independently actuating one thereof.

15. In an embroidering machine, the embodiment of fabric rollers arranged to receive the fabric one from the other, movable means for engaging sald rollers between their ends to hold them alined, and common means for simultaneously moving the engaging members of both rollers in the same directionand toward one of said rollers and away from the other.

16. In an embroidering machine of the class mentioned, fabric rollers arranged to receive the fabric one from the other, movable members for engaging said rollers between their ends to hold them true, means for operating the engaging members of one roller independently, and means for simultaneously operating the engaging members of both rollers to compensate for changes in the relative sizes of the rollers caused by the shifting of the fabric from one to the other.

17 In an embroidering machine, an upper and a lower fabric roller arranged to receive the fabric one from the other, a plurality of engaging members for holding each of the rollers alined, means for operating the engaging members of the upper roller together and independently of the lower rollerengaging members, and means for simultaneously moving all of the engaging members in the same direction.

JOSEPH A. GROEBLI.

Witnesses:

AGNES GERHAUsER, CHARLES A. OGREN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

